From Signs and symptoms:
"Pain, swelling, or stiffness in one or more joints is commonly present in psoriatic arthritis.[4] Psoriatic arthritis is inflammatory, and affected joints are generally red or warm to the touch.[4] Asymmetrical oligoarthritis, defined as inflammation affecting one to four joints during the first six months of disease, is present in 70% of cases."
This is the form that I have, affecting my left shoulder, right hip & right knee. I recently drastically reduced the pain and inflammation in these joints by doubling my intake of EPA & DHA by eating two cans/day of Tesco Mackerel in spicy sauce, instead of one. Occasionally, my hands & feet temporarily swell, causing "sausage-fingers".

I'd completely suppressed my skin rashes and plaques since 2007, by supplementing with 5,000iu/day of Vitamin D3, ~3g/day of EPA & DHA from Sardines/Mackerel & ~400mg/day of Mg from ~4g/day of Epsom Salts spread out over my waking hours.

However, there's this:-
"Along with the above-noted pain and inflammation, there is extreme
exhaustion that does not go away with adequate rest. The exhaustion may
last for days or weeks without abatement."

I'm lucky in that the exhaustion isn't extreme, but it is significant and it co-incides with a high ambient temperature.

Mackerel is very high in the long-chain omega 3 polyunsaturates EPA & DHA. It also has a strong flavour, so I get it in strongly-flavoured spicy sauces. It goes nicely with a can of Tesco Everyday Value Sweetcorn 325G

One Sunday night, I got home from the Ploughdium jam and felt hungry, so I had another can of Mackerel bringing the total to two cans that day.

The next day, I was walking to Short & Sweet coffee shop for my brunch, when I noticed that I'd lost something - the pain in my right hip! The second can had raised my intake of Mackerel-sourced omega-3 fats from an average of 3.5g to 7g! Omega-3 fats are anti-inflammatory.

I started eating two cans/day of Mackerel, to maintain the higher intake. Then I noticed my mood gradually rising...and rising...and rising.

In the first study, the following string of text stood out:- "Although absolute LM increased in boys and decreased in girls.." Boys gained absolute lean mass and girls lost absolute lean mass. Teenage boys have much higher testosterone levels than teenage girls. Ditto for men & women.

In the second study, the full version was behind a pay-wall. There are ways to bypass pay-walls, but they're illegal, so I'm not going to include a link to the full version. I took a couple of screen-shots instead.

Here's Table 2.

Note: The Patient was a 104kg (228.8lb) man.

1. 1000kcal/day mixed diet (60%C, 20%P, 20%F) resulted in a mean daily weight loss of 0.38kg/day (0.836lb/day). Mean potassium balance was positive, so there was some net gain of muscle, even though there was weight loss. Muscle, also glycogen+water gain probably explains the low average weight loss

2. 1000kcal/day ketogenic diet (4%C, 14%P, 82%F ≡ "Nutritional Ketosis") resulted in a mean daily weight loss of 0.82kg/day (1.804lb/day), of which 6.4kg was bodyfat and 0.2kg loss was LBM. Mean potassium balance was negative, so there was some net loss of muscle.

3. 0kcal/day total fast resulted in a mean daily weight loss of 1.28kg/day (2.816lb/day), of which only 3.4kg was bodyfat and 6.2kg was LBM. Mean potassium balance was very negative, so there was large net loss of muscle.

Here's Figure 1.

Can you spot what's going on with the Nutritional Ketosis diet? The 14%P made me suspicious, as it seemed unnecessarily precise. There's a reason for that!

At the end of day 4, weight loss due to glycogen+water depletion is starting to slow down as glycogen becomes exhausted, then it speeds up again because falling blood glucose level to ~3.3mmol/L stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete ACTH, which stimulates the adrenal cortex to secrete cortisol, which catabolises muscle into amino acids for the liver & kidneys to use for gluconeogenesis. This speeds up the rate of weight loss for 3 days.

"Ketone bodies" level rises linearly from near zero to 5mmol/L by day 10 in fasting. It may rise faster on Nutritional Ketosis. As ketone level rises, glucose consumption by the various tissues falls. This is why muscle catabolism stops after 3 days - there's now enough dietary protein to supply the reduced amount of glucose needed to be produced by gluconeogenesis.

This is why protein % was set to precisely 14%. If it had been lower, weight loss would have been greater, but muscle loss would have become significant, which would have made Nutritional Ketosis look bad. If it had been higher, weight loss would have been less, which would have made Nutritional Ketosis look bad.

In conclusion, don't obsess over scale weight. It's just a rough guide. The irony is that the very group who can't regain lost muscle is the same group that often tries every fad extreme weight loss diet going - females.

In females, muscle mass is like a bargain at Tesco - When it's gone, it's gone. Don't do excessively-rapid weight loss diets &/or not eat for more than 24 hours.

Monday, 10 April 2017

I've seen various arguments from people who are against vaccinations:-

1. Vaccinated people can still catch the diseases for which they've been vaccinated, therefore vaccinations are ineffective.
2. Vaccinations can damage people.
3. Why are un-vaccinated people a threat to vaccinated people? Also, vaccinated people can shed viruses, infecting others.
4. Morbidity & mortality rates fell dramatically before vaccinations were introduced, therefore vaccinations are unnecessary.
5. Vaccines cause Autism.

1. Vaccination can't stop people from being infected by viruses. What it does is give people a much milder form of the disease so that they produce antibodies to the modified virus.

When vaccinated people are infected with full-strength infectious viruses, their bodies have a much faster immune response to them, much reducing the time taken to destroy them, much reducing morbidity & mortality and much reducing the chance of infecting many others with them. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination for more detailed information.

2. As everyone is different, some people don't produce any/enough antibodies to the modified virus and have to be re-vaccinated. Most people produce the correct response, which may make them feel mildly unwell. Some people have a bad reaction to the modified virus, which may make them very ill and in very rare cases may damage them. However, if someone is damaged by a modified virus, a full-strength virus would either damage them much more, or kill them. To minimise the risk of harm occurring, the diet should be based on minimally-processed animal & vegetable produce, not over-processed "food" products.

3. They're not. When un-vaccinated people are infected with full-strength infectious viruses, there's a period of time (the incubation period) during which they shed them and infect many other non-vaccinated people (including immunocompromised people who can't be vaccinated) before antibodies are produced and the immune system destroys them. This is why vaccination rates must be high (higher than 95%, say) in order to achieve "herd immunity", to minimise the risk of full-strength infectious viruses from rapidly spreading through dense populations or other populations due to rapid transportation.

Should modified viruses be shed during the incubation period after vaccination, it's not a problem unless they infect immunocompromised people (who would be much more adversely affected, should they be infected by full-strength viruses).

4. Yes, due to improved health care, but there was still higher morbidity & mortality due to catching full-strength viruses back then than there are now from being vaccinated with modified viruses.

5. Association cannot prove causation.
If A is associated with B, the following four scenarios are possible.1. A caused B.2. B caused A.3. A and B were caused by C and/or D and/or E etc etc.4. It's a Spurious correlation.

About Me

I have a B.Sc.(Hons) in Electronic Engineering but no qualifications in Diet, Nutrition & Fitness, which is why I back-up what I write with links to high-quality evidence.

You can email me at
nigel.kinbrum@entee'ellworld.com
(say it!).

My suggestions must ALWAYS be checked by your Pharmacist/GP first, in case of contraindications with other medical conditions or medications that I don't know about. My suggestions are adjuncts to, NOT replacements for medication(s).

If symptoms improve, ask your GP about a reduction in medication(s), if it's/they're causing you problems.

Cheers, Nigel Kinbrum B.Sc.(Hons)Eng.

Moderation Policy:-READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING. I can approve comments using my phone when I'm away from my lap-top, but I prefer to type replies on my lap-top, so please be patient.

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